Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.

This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

2. Billionaire Banker Bandit Likely to Become Next Commerce Secretary By Greg Palast

A parade of media reports this week name Penny Pritzker as Obama's prime choice for Secretary of Commerce. No longer will criminal bankers have to lobby the administration - because now they'll have one of their own in the Cabinet.

We never heard of this guy Barack Obama until 2004. Less than three years before taking the presidency, he was in the Illinois state senate, a swamp of scammers, backhanders, and party machine tools - not a stellar launch pad for the White House. And then, one day, state Sen. Barack Obama was visited by his fairy godmother. Her name is Penny Pritzker.

Penny's from Heaven?

Pritzger's net worth is listed in Forbes as $1.8 billion, which is one hell of a heavy magic wand in the world of politics. Her wand would have been heavier, and her net worth higher, except that in 2001, the federal government fined her and her family $460 million for the predatory, deceitful, racist tactics and practices of Superior, the bank-and-loan-shark operation she ran on the South Side of Chicago.

Superior was the first of the deregulated go-go banks to go bust - at the time, the costliest failure ever. US taxpayers lost nearly half a billion dollars. Superior's depositors lost millions and poor folk in Sen. Obama's South Side district lost their homes.

Penny did not like paying $460 million. No, not one bit. What she needed was someone to give her Hope and Change. She hoped someone would change the banking regulators so she could get away with this crap...MORE AT LINK

This article is based on the New York Times bestseller: Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, by Greg Palast with comics by Ted Rall. Available for a donation to Truthout.org.

8. Second that!

Good to see your name again, Hugin.

It is dreary, when it's not terrifying. I am seriously considering bugging out to Iceland. If I have to be cold and penniless, at least I can be free...although, that would make me subject to drone attack faster than staying here...the estimates are we've got a couple of months before they just start droning us on the streets of the good old USA, land of the debt slave, home of the gutless.

9. Look, I loathe Mark Rubio as much as anyone else - BUT

a quick scan of news and home page here tells me that the BIG NEWS out of last night is that he TOOK A DRINK OF WATER DURING HIS SPEECH?

WTF? SO WHAT? So he needed a drink of water? This is huge news? This disqualifies him as a Pres candidate? Talk about his bootlicking for the 1% - not that he needed a drink of water. This passes for news and analysis? Is this the 21st Century or ancient Rome? Can't be ancient Rome, come to think of it - they at least had the sense to know that the 1%ers had to give the masses bread as well as circuses. We're supposed to content ourselves with just the circus.

17. Keep advertising, and you'll have a house full

18. Here it is: Valentine's Day; and I've yet to do my Xmas shopping

either before or after...

I am really sad about that. So instead, I'm getting floors which I bought 2-3 years ago put down....in this horrible weather, that means staying home to babysit the carpenters. I guess I can shop for Easter, instead....